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Welcome to Stonehearth
'House Stonehearth' House Stonehearth is a sovereign polity and the federal leadership of the Commonwealth of the Charter of Light. Known simply as the Commonwealth, the organization as of 1489 counts three groups of members: * the "Big-M" Stonehearth Marquisate * the Union of the Houses of Lantan * the Kingdom of Halruaa The Marquisate is a territorially contiguous area of the mid-sword coast. It consists of the founding marquisate and current capital, as well as four expansion counties and nine expansion baronies. It is effectively a unitary state, but has geographic divisions managed by Houses who have sworn to uphold the laws and practices of the original charter. The capital of the Marquisate is North Point Keep. Built at the mouth of the Winding Water River, it guards the rough midpoint between Baldur's Gate (to the south) and Waterdeep (to the north). Founded as a maritime way-station between those famous Sword Coast cities, it has also served as a bulwark against trolls and the undead alike, not the least of which has been the insane Lich Larloch. As a sentry of the far-flung northern border of Baldur's Gate, Stonehearth regarded themselves as a marquisate of the city-state. Giving legitimacy to the claim, they have been recognized as such by the Gate's "Dukes." The realpolitik is more complicated. Stonehearth sovereign territory, starting with the "small-m" Stonehearth marquisate, was founded well beyond the claimed lands that support The Gate, much less the lands the Flaming Fist patrol and control. This distance was, at one time, a point of comfort to the Gate's patriars (nobles), but that distance is now seen as the marquisate's land to backfill for their expansion as they prepare to claim the city itself. Given that Stonehearth remains a Gate patriar and is often regarded as the "shadow duke" of the city, the fears of the Gate's aristocracy are not unfounded. Over the last century, the Stonehearth peninsula has grown from the initial marquisate (the northwestern tip, equivalent to a medium county), to a sovereign marquisate with four additional large counties and nine baronies in a local parliament. The executive is known by the metonym of the'' Coronet'', rather than the Crown, as House Stonehearth has refused to declare themselves a kingdom without first accomplishing certain "security related" criteria. That criteria hinges on stabilizing – making safe – the region immediately beyond their peninsula. They are just south of the Trollbark Forest and just west of the Trollclaw hills. There is not one once of irony to those names, and the trolls of this world are magically-regenerating, chaotic evil giants who have a taste for any tender humanoid under 8-feet in height. Likewise, Warlock's Crypt, the home of the ancient Netherese lich Larloch, is a mere 25 miles northeast of North Point. For the last century, Larloch has played tit-for-tat with House Stonehearth. There are suspicions, and some resentment, that Larloch's "awakening" and involvement in the destruction of the Netherese flying city of Shade and Myth Drannor alike may have been a reaction against the encroaching marquisate. Stonehearth's Extended Holdings House Stonehearth started as a patriar (baronet) of Baldur's Gate, and owns significant land within the city, on the immediate perimeter and within a few days ride of the Baldurian municipal walls. The growth, especially nearby the city, marks Stonehearth as the largest Baldurian landowner outside the walls by some measure, and comparable to the dukes within the walls. Beyond the self-made marquisate to the north, Stonehearth holds: * The [https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Impresk Barony of Impresk], Kingdom of Tethyr, to the south. This land encompasses the entirety of the Snowflake Mountains, the highest range of Southern Faerûn, and was classed as a barony by the few towns within, not the footprint of the territory (where it would weigh in somewhere between a large county or a small duchy). Stonehearth also has a fortified manor outside the Tethyr capital. * The Barony of Esparia, Kingdom of Cormyr, to the east. Similar to Impresk, when Stonehearth assumed the area, there was only one "well-known" feature in the barony: the namesake village of Espar. They have since expanded the barony to a controversially major position within Cormyr. * Stonehearth Manor within the city-state of Waterdeep, as well as supporting lands in the surrounding region. They operate as high-level merchants and are commonly (and correctly) assumed to be masked lords. * Additionally, Stonehearth has diplomatic missions (based in fortified manors) on the island of Lantan and near the southern coast of Halruaa.